The Witch-King Cometh V2
by The Phantom of Skyrim
Summary: During the events of the Forest of Death in the Chunnin Exams, Naruto discovered a mask-like helmet that reeked of power. Putting it on, Naruto became the second to take up the mantle of the Witch-King. REWRITE OF ORIGINAL STORY. WARNING! Genderbending included!
1. Ch 1: Return of the King

The Witch-King Cometh V2

Chapter 1: Return of the King

Summary: When he was "attacked" by Orochimaru in the Chunnin Exams, Naruto finds a helmet that reeks of poisonously dark power. Fed up with the village as of late, he puts on the mask and becomes the newest to take up the mantel of the Witch-King. With the powers of darkness itself at his disposal, nothing can stand in his way. In time, the world will know the power of the Witch-King. And his new reign has only just begun.

**A/N: Hello everyone and welcome to Version 2 of "The Witch-King Cometh" And it's about freaking time I finished this thing! I'm hoping that this one may seem better to you guys as well as my parents, and who knows? Maybe this one will get even more reviews. The pairing was a bit of a problem at first. I would normally have done someone like Hinata or Anko, but Anko has already been done for this kind of story (ironically the one that gave me the idea for this story) and I don't see Hinata ever falling in love with a psychotic king of darkness. Eventually my friend Mikal gave me an idea that hasn't been done that often, so I figured "Why not try it?" Basically, the pairing now features a Fem Orochimaru. I mean, come on! It makes sense! Well, in a sick, twisted way it does, but oh well. However, either the pairing might change in the future so don't hold me to it. So yeah, this is still rated M for the violence and SOME language, and possibly some blood/gore. Mainly it's M just because I'm a bit paranoid. Alright, with that little rant aside, let's cue the disclaimer and get on with this rewrite! By the way, I changed the circumstances so that I could avoid the stupid Wave Arc. Let's face it, that arc is done in practically every fanfiction I've ever read! It's iconic to the series, I know. I just really don't feel like redoing it or going with the cliché "Sealed Power in the Forbidden Scroll" type of thing. So enjoy! I apologize in advance for the lengthy time in which it took to rewrite this thing, I had some serious writer's block!**

**_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Lord of the Rings. Naruto is the property of Masashi Kishimoto and TV Tokyo, Lord of the Rings and all its associated names/characters/etc. belong to J.R.R. Tolkien with all due rights and respects. Please support the official release. I also don't own about half of the little prologue thingy. I was too lazy to change anything there. It was too troublesome. Also, here's the speech key thingy._**

Speech

_Thoughts/Mind speak_

**Demon/Bijuu/Nazgul/Orc speech**

**_Demon/Bijuu/Nazgul/Orc thoughts or mind speech_**

Jutsu/Spell (translation provided here if necessary)

**Demonic Jutsu/Spell** (translation here also if needed)

**(A/N: Author's Notes will go here)**

_Prologue_

The world is changing. All that once was, now is forgotten, for there are none who live who can remember. It began with the forging of the great rings. Three for the elven lords, immortal and undying. Seven, for the dwarf lords; great miners, and craftsmen. Nine, nine rings gifted to the kings of men, who above all else, desire power. For within these rings lie the powers to govern Middle Earth. But they had all of them been deceived… for another ring was made.

In the land of Mordor, in the fires of Mount Doom, the Dark Lord Sauron forged in secret a master ring, in which he poured his cruelty, his malice, and his will to dominate all life on Middle Earth. One Ring to rule them all.

One by one, the free peoples of Middle Earth fell to the power of the Ring. But there were some who fought back. A last alliance of Men and Elves, determined to break the power of the Ring. And on the slopes of Mount Doom, they fought to determine the fate of Middle Earth. In that final battle, it seemed that good had triumphed. But the power of the Ring would not be undone. Sauron himself entered the fray, and his power could not be stopped. With one blow of his massive mace, he slew the king of men quicker than anyone could react.

It was then that Isildur, son of the king, took up his father's blade and cut the Ring from the hand of Sauron himself. And without the Ring, for which his soul was permanently bound, Sauron spontaneously combusted with the force to make all three armies fall to their knees. And so it was that Sauron, enemy of the Free Peoples of Middle Earth, was defeated. And the Ring passed into Isildur's hand, and he had the one chance to destroy evil forever. But the hearts of Men are easily corrupted.

Isildur kept the Ring, and in his greatest need, the Ring betrayed him. To his death. And there it lay, for centuries in the bottom of a river, until it ensnared a new bearer. The Ring came to the creature Gollum, and for 500 years it poisoned his mind. And there it lay in wait, until it heard the whispers. Rumors of a shadow in the lands of darkness, a nameless evil. And the Ring knew its time had come.

It abandoned Gollum, but fate had something different in mind for the  
>Ring. It was picked up by the most unlikely creature to ever do so. Bilbo Baggins, a Hobbit from the Shire. And once again, the Ring lay in wait. Eventually, the Ring passed into the hands of Frodo Baggins, nephew of Bilbo. And Frodo, with the help of Gandalf the Grey, set out on a quest to cast the Ring back into the fires from whence it came, and destroy evil for all eternity. And Frodo did just that. But some evils managed to escape that day, for while the Nazgul, the dark riders who search for the Ring endlessly, were destroyed that day, a token of the Nazgul still survived. The mask of their leader, the Witch-King of Angmar, reformed itself and lay in wait, on a shrine made in memory of the Nazgul, as it waited for another wielder.<p>

History became stories, stories became myths, and myths became legends. The tales of the so-called "Lord of the Rings" now serve as simply that. A tale to enchant and delight the children of the "modern" age. But the mask of the Witch-King survived, and sat there, waiting with its store of dark power. And finally, the mask was found.

After his battle with his friend-turned-enemy, Hashirama Senju had stumbled into a cave to heal and rest. And in that cave he found the shrine of the Nazgul, the dreaded Ring-Wraiths. And on that shrine, he found the mask of the legendary Witch-King himself. He could feel its power calling to him, but he knew that it was a dark power and it couldn't be trusted. He took the mask, but only to try and destroy it.

To say that Hashirama failed miserably would be an understatement. Nothing he did, not even his strongest jutsu could as much as scratch that mask. Finally, resigned that it couldn't be destroyed, he locked it away in another shrine in a dark forest in Konoha, with a warning left for whoever unsealed it to never put on the mask, or they would most likely die or become something terrible. The dark power of the mask began to corrupt the area around it, and the area of Training Ground 44 became henceforth known to the inhabitants of Konoha as the "Forest of Death" for that very reason.

Despite that warning that Hashirama left beside the mask, it was ignored, and one boy did unseal the mask. His name is Naruto Uzumaki, and this is the story of how one boy became a king. This is the tale of the new Witch-King.

Naruto lunged in front of the gigantic snake and quickly stabbed it right in the eye. The serpent shrieked in pain before dispelling in a cloud of smoke, revealing it to be a summon. "Snake summons?" he wondered aloud. Then it hit him. He grinned a fox-like grin. "So, Orochi-chan is here, eh?" he said to himself. He had met the Sannin a while back, and while some would say that Tsunade was better looking, Orochimaru was good-looking in her own strange, somewhat twisted way.

**_"_****_So, that snake's in the forest huh?"_** Kurama stated. _"Yep. Might as well go say hi then."_ Naruto replied.

The fox rolled his eyes. He didn't trust Orochimaru that much, but given a choice between Orochimaru or Danzo, he'd take Orochimaru. Of course, Naruto liked both of them. Danzo, cause he saw Naruto as actually a valuble asset to the Leaf and cause he actually trained him, unlike Naruto's supposed "sensei". Orochimaru… do the math.

Naruto jumped into the trees and followed the scent of snakes, easier with Kurama enhancing his senses, and landed on a branch to overlook the battle between the Sannin and the two Genin of Naruto's "team". Well, "battle" is a little too generous. Try more like "slaughter"

Orochimaru was simply toying with the two. Sakura was pretty much trying not to piss herself at the weight of Orochimaru's KI **(A/N: don't ask me to explain Killing Intent. I really can't. Just think of the spiritual pressure in Bleach.)** and was all in all being rather useless. Sasuke was trying (and failing) to hold off the Sannin with his two-tomoed Sharingan, which looked like it had just matured into that stage. Orochimaru licked her lips and smirked as she sensed Naruto's unique chakra signature. _"Always the punctual one Naruto-kun,"_ she thought.

Sasuke's eyes widened as Naruto landed in between the two. "Wazzup teme?" Naruto said, his eyes crimson with slitted pupils, his canines elongated, his whisker marks longer and more jagged than before. Sasuke shivered in fear. Naruto's eyes weren't like that of the goofball "dobe" that he knew and remembered. They were more like that of a hunter, a killer, a creature with endless amounts of cruelty.

Orochimaru grinned as she looked at the demonic blonde. "Perfect timing, eh Naruto-kun?" she said, licking her lips once again. Naruto (to which credit is due for his acting skills) grinned sadistically. "And you are?" he said mockingly. Orochimaru mentally rolled her eyes. She chuckled in a way that definitely sounded creepy to two of the Genin. To Naruto, it just sounded kinda hot.

"I am Orochimaru of the Sannin, formerly of Konoha," she said in a prideful tone, dispelling the genjutsu on her forehead protector. The symbol for the Grass village was instantly replaced by the music note symbol of Sound. She darted forward, summoning a large brown snake as she went, and sent a barrage of kunai at the Genin. "Sannin huh? You don't look so tough! Futon: Daitoppa! (Wind Style: Great Breakthrough)" Naruto yelled as he expelled a gigantic blast of wind that sent the kunai scattering and dispelled the snake summon. He quickly flipped through his handsigns. "Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu! (Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique)" he bellowed as he sent a stream of fireballs that were about the size of a basketball each. Orochimaru quickly Shunshined (Body Flicker) out of the path of destruction and pulled a katana out of the mouth of a serpent slithering from her sleeve. "Shall we dance then Naruto-kun?" she said with a smile.

_"__Futon: Shinkujin!_ (Wind Style: Vacuum Blade)" the Genin thought. Naruto exhaled an amount of yellowish-green colored Wind Chakra onto his kunai blade, creating a saber of wind energy. "Bring it!" he said as his wind-enhanced kunai blade connected with the Kusanagi blade in Orochimaru's hand. What nobody saw however, was the wink that Naruto gave to the Sannin.

Orochimaru fought the urge to snicker as she fought down a blush. Despite her attempts, a faint, barely noticable tinge of pink appeared on her pale skin. Naruto cackled like a maniac. _"Hey Kurama! I'm gonna need some of your chakra to make this look a little more believable!" __**"You got it kit! One medium-sized order of Yokai (demonic chakra) coming right up!"**_ Kurama called back. Naruto grinned as his chakra levels skyrocketed, and his KI that was seemingly directed at the Sannin doubling in weight and potency. Orochimaru flinched and was a bit shocked. _"So, Kurama-kun is giving him some aid to aid in the act? This could be a little more difficult than I anticipated,"_ she thought. She smirked. She always loved a good fight.

Naruto dashed back to "avoid" a strike from the Kusanagi. He flashed through his handsigns. Orochimaru quickly realized what he was doing and she flipped through her own handsigns. "Futon: Atsugai! (Wind Style: Pressure Damage)" "Doton: Doryuheki! (Earth Style: Earth-Style Wall)" Naruto inhaled and expelled a pressurized blast of air shaped like a tornado, while Orochimaru clapped her hands on the ground. Right before the blast hit the Sannin, a wall of earth quickly rose up to block the attack. Upon connection with the wall, the blast immediately exploded in a huge dome of blue wind chakra, vaporizing the wall and sending Orochimaru's somewhat shredded body flying. She hit the trunk of a tree with a sickening crunch, and lay still.

Naruto inwardly gulped. He hoped he didn't overdo it. He had a tendency to go a bit overkill. **_"Ya think?!"_** Kurama replied in response to his host's thoughts.

"Is it over?" Sakura asked fearfully. Her only response was the "corpse" sitting up and coughing violently. Orochimaru's mouth widened as an arm, followed by a torso, and finally legs were violently vomited out. Orochimaru stood, her shed skin dissolving into white liquid as she smoothed the greenish slime out of her hair. She laughed for a moment. "You surprised me Naruto-kun. I wasn't expecting an B-Ranked Futon jutsu at your age," she said. Naruto grinned. "I'm only sixteen! Is it such a surprise?" Orochimaru smirked. Inwardly however, she was experiencing much different feelings. _"Danzo!"_ she thought to herself. _"What the hell have you been teaching him while I've been gone?! You said minor Futon jutsus, like D or C ranked, not freaking B-Ranked Jutsu!"_ she mentally raged.

Naruto pulled out two shurikens and flipped through his handsigns. "Futon: Shinkujin!" he bellowed as he threw the small weapons at Orochimaru. The wind chakra formed over the shurikens, turning the small projectiles into basically a buzzsaw of wind. Orochimaru quickly ducked _Matrix_-style to avoid the shurikens, and she almost missed seeing Naruto darting in with another Shinkujin applied to a kunai. "You're mine now!" he yelled.

Orochimaru smirked and slapped the kunai out of his hand and wrapped an arm around his neck. Sasuke had finally gotten over his shock and noticed that Naruto was held in a choke hold by the Sannin. What he didn't realize was that Orochimaru had bitten Naruto almost tenderly on the neck, forming a three pronged seal that vaguely resembled a three-bladed shuriken on the side of his neck. **(A/N: Basically think of Itachi's Mangekyou Sharingan symbol on Naruto's neck.)** "Kukuku. Now Sasuke-kun, what will you do? Will you attack me and kill your teammate? Or try to save him? Make your choice, or I'll snap his neck!" Orochimaru hissed.

Sasuke swore angrily and began going through his options in his head. _"Sorry Naruto,"_ he thought. He quickly flipped through the handsigns from the jutsu he copied from Naruto during the fight by using his Sharingan. "Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!" he bellowed before firing a swarm of fireballs at the pair. Orochimaru's eyes widened in shock that he would kill off his own teammate to kill her. Naruto was pissed off that, even though they weren't friends, Sasuke wouldn't hesitate to kill him if he was being used as a shield. So much for "sensei's" teachings.

Orochimaru quickly began flipping through her handsigns. "Sorry Naruto-kun!" she whispered as she gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Futon: Daitoppa!" she yelled as she blasted Naruto out of the way with a burst of wind. Unfortunately, she overshot a bit and sent Naruto flying farther than she anticipated. She then fired a quick Suiton (Water Style) jutsu to block the fireballs. She held up the Tiger handseal and extended her neck to inhuman lengths. She quickly sank her fangs on Sasuke's shoulder, leaving a mark shaped like three commas arranged in a circle. _"He'll pay for making me harm Naruto-kun!"_ she though angrily. She tossed the Uchiha at the pink-haired girl in disgust and jumped down onto the forest floor. She tasted the air with her tongue in a very serpentine manner and took off into the forest in the direction of Naruto's distinct ramen-flavored scent. "Hang on Naruto-kun," she said softly. "I'll find you."

_With Naruto_

Naruto slammed through the tree, through a cabin, and finally through a random clothesline adorned with a pair of red polka-dotted underwear, barely getting tangled up in the line and he just kept rolling. **(A/N: Points to anyone who gets the reference!)** Naruto yelled as he slammed through a boulder, a sickening CRACK resounding through the forest. Naruto proceeded to swear loudly in tones that would have made even a sailor blush. (Somewhere in the village of Oto (Sound) a red haired girl sneezed violently. "Some dumbass better not be talking about me!" she yelled before being reprimanded by her teammate for her language, at which point she told him to go do something that is not anatomically possible for a human male.)

Naruto kept rolling for what felt like hours (it was only a few minutes) and finally fell into a cave. He coughed and tried to support himself on his right arm. He immediately let out a scream of agony. Apparently that 'crack' was the sound of the bone in his forearms breaking clean through. Judging from the way his ankle felt, it was probably sprained. All from a B-Ranked Futon jutsu. Not that Naruto held it against Orochimaru anyways. It wasn't her fault. Given the speed of the attack (and the surprise that Sasuke had actually copied the Jutsu) if Orochimaru hadn't acted then Naruto wouldn't have been alive to argue. It still hurt a lot, but he was alive. In retrospect, Naruto began to question the workings of the minds of Konoha residents. If his traitorous mule of a teammate was willing to kill him to strike down an enemy, he hated to see how things were going to end up in terms of teamwork. If that was what the village golden boy would do while the hated pariah would prefer to SAVE his teammates, he hated to see how much further Konoha would go down the toilet.

He groaned and began pulling himself shakily to his feet, ignoring the blood dripping on his face from the cut on his forehead. Naruto grit his teeth and pushed his bone back into place and waited for the fox to work his magic.

**_"_****_Kit. I take it we are in agreement to NEVER DO THAT AGAIN!"_** Kurama yelled from the seal. **_"Do you have any idea how much Yokai this is gonna take to heal your sorry ass?! I mean, dammit! Why did you just have to hit freaking EVERYTHING THAT COULD HAVE BEEN LETHAL IN THIS FREAKING FOREST?!"_**

Naruto groaned as reddish-orange chakra began seeping from his pores and slowly closing his wounds. "Would you just knock it off?" he growled, not bothering to think the sentence since they were alone. "If it weren't for Orochimaru-chan's jutsu, we would have been set on fire and probably wouldn't be arguing about this, now would we?" he asked retorically.

Kurama proceeced to shut up, given he knew his host was technically right. Naruto tested his arm, and upon feeling no pain he carefully stood up. He glanced around the cave he was in. It almost resembled a temple, given the stone columns seemingly holding up the roof of the cave. Naruto's eyes flicked back and forth, the crimson irises fading back into sapphire blue. "Where are we?" he asked.

Kurama pondered for a moment. **_"Kit, don't be alarmed, but I don't have a clue where we are."_** Naruto sweatdropped and slapped his forehead. "You're real useful aren't you?" he asked sarcastically. Kurama rolled his eyes. **_"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up meat-sack,"_** the fox growled. Naruto shook his head and began walking down into the cave. He paused for a moment as he found himself in a large circular room. In the center was an empty pedestal adorned with ornate carvings of hooded figures on horses slaughtering enemies. One in particular had a strange helmet on, and was he riding a dragon?

Naruto walked up to the pedestal and brushed some of the dust off of the surface. He raised an eyebrow at the intricate circular design carved into the rock. "Hey fuzzball, any idea what this is?" **_"Two things. One: DON'T CALL ME FUZZBALL YOU STUPID NINGEN (human)! Second thing, yeah. I recognize it. That's a seal designed by the Shodaime Hokage himself. It was designed to hold something that's usually about as strong as a Bijuu."_** "So it's a Shiki Fuin then?" **_"Nope. This one's STRONGER than the one that was put on you that kept me stuck in your gut. My guess is, whatever Hashirama-baka sealed in that thing, it's really powerful."_**

Naruto's eyes widened. There was a seal that existed for holding something stronger than a Tailed Beast? Naruto's face broke out into a wide grin. "Well then, let's fire that sucker up!" he said as he wiped some blood off of his face. Kurama groaned again, but said nothing. Naruto smeared blood across the altar and channeled his chakra onto the carved stone. The intricate spirals and prongs glowed purple as the surface of the pedestal spiraled open like a camera lense. Rising up from a pool of purple energy was a helmet. And to the fox sealed within our hero, it REEKED of power.

It was simple in design. The mask-like helmet was forged of burnished steel, with a prong extending up from the forehead area and a crown of spikes jutting out from the scalp area on the helmet. It was a terrifying visage. It took Naruto a second, but he recognized it as the helmet on that dragon-riding being on the carving. It was then that Naruto noticed the runes carved on the ground by the altar. "Damn. I can't read this," he muttered. "Hey fox, can you read it?" Kurama rolled his eyes and nodded. **_"Here lies the leader of the Black Riders, the lord of the Nazgul, the strongest of the Nine, most ruthless of the Ringwraiths. Here lies all that remains of the Witch-King of Angmar,"_** Kurama translated. **_"Wow, the old Orcish tongue. Haven't seen that in a few centuries,"_** he commented.

"Witch-King of Angmar? Isn't that from that old children's tale, Lord of the Rings?" Naruto asked. **_"Yes baka. Don't you know that all stories and legends have some basis in the truth? I mean, I told you the myth about the Rikudo Sennin (Sage of Six Paths) and the Juubi (Ten-Tails) didn't I? And we both know that those stories were true."_** Kurama deadpanned. Naruto took the helmet in his hands and lifted it off of the pedestal. He pondered for a moment before raising the helmet and beginning to lower it over his head. The minute the helmet/mask was fixed to his head, the eyeholes began to glow an ominous purple. **_"Ah shit,"_** Kurama murmured right before Naruto's chakra levels skyrocketed. A visible storm of purple chakra swirled around Naruto before exploding into a pillar of that same malicious purple chakra. And throughout the entire process, Naruto let out a shrieking scream that was eirily similar to that of a wraith.

_With Orochimaru_

Orochimaru was running through the forest when she suddenly stopped. She twitched for a minute. _"That feeling. It's like I'm staring the Kyuubi no Kitsune (Nine-Tailed Fox aka Kurama) right in the face. What is that malignant chakra?"_ she thought to herself. Orochimaru glanced down and saw that her hand was shaking in fear. She grabbed her wrist and held up her arm. _"Am I… trembling?"_

Right at that moment a huge pillar of purple chakra shot straight into the sky. Orochimaru sank to her knees in shock and slight fear of the malevolent chakra she was feeling in the air. The thing was at least a few miles away, yet she felt as if the Juubi himself was leveling his KI at her. She tilted her head and heard a loud shriek like that of a wraith. She recognized that voice, screech or no. "Naruto," she murmured. She flipped through her handsigns at a fast pace. "Slithering Snake Mode," she hissed as her body from the waist down morphed into a black serpent tail. She immediately began slithering through the forest as fast as she could towards the pillar. "Hang on Naruto, I'm coming for you!" she hissed as she flicked her tongue out to taste the air.

_Outside Konoha… Somewhere in the Land of Fire…_

Hidan was sitting on the ground sharpening the blades of his scythe when he felt a familiar chill. He only felt that chill whenever he was spoken to by his lord, Jashin. He sniffed the air and adjusted his grip on his tri-bladed sythe while fingering the pendant around his neck. It didn't look like much, just a black circle with an upside-down triangle inside the circle. Hidan nervously raised the rosary to his eye level and began praying silently. _"Jashin, what is this feeling of dread? Could it be that the one has returned?"_ Hidan's only answer was a gigantic column of purple chakra shooting straight into the sky. Hidan stared in shock and he actually dropped his scythe. "Oh. My. Jashin." That was his only response. His shock faded as a somewhat maniacal grin formed on his face. He raised his rosary again and let out a small prayer. "Thank you for showing me the way. Now I know…" Hidan opened his eyes and chuckled. "The Harbinger of Jashin has returned," he whispered. Hidan let the rosary fall back onto his unclothed chest as he picked up his scythe and sheathed it on his back. "It's in Konoha," he observed. Hidan cracked his neck and set off as fast as he could, dropping a black cloak with red clouds on it as he ran. Screw the Akatsuki, religion takes priority over all!

_Forest of Death… Konoha…_

Sasuke was at that moment beating the snot out of a trio of Oto genin. He grinned, the curse mark on his neck pulsing with power, as he grabbed the arms of one of them. Zabu? Zaku? Something like that. "You seem awfully proud of those arms," Sasuke said with a sneer. "Why don't we do something about that then?" Sasuke began pulling on Zaku's arms, and not in a direction that they were meant to move in. Zaku screamed as Sasuke brutally broke the boy's arms, almost ripping them out of their sockets.

Sasuke grinned wider and raised a foot to crush Zaku's skull when a distinct shriek pierced the air. Sasuke let go of the Oto genin and screamed as the shriek seemingly began frying his mind. A trickle of blood ran out of one ear, betraying a ruptured eardrum on the Uchiha. Sasuke turned angrily to try and put his attacker in his place when he froze in shock.

The figure was tall, at least 6' 3", and looked very menacing. He was cloaked in black robes that fell over steel armor with spikes on various places, such as the shoulders, elbows, and the knuckles and fingers of the hands. Sheathed at his sides were a long dagger with a spiked guard, and a two-handed longsword just next to it. A steel helmet guarded the face, looking menacing with it's crown of spikes jutting from the scalp, and the open-faced area of the helmet was empty and filled with shadows. But the eyes were the worst. Sasuke could see the blood-red eyes, with slitted pupils like that of an animal. Sasuke shook in unease… no it was TERROR that Sasuke felt.

The figure raised a gauntleted hand and closed its hand into a spiny fist except the index finger. The wraith waved its finger from left to right, in a "tsk, tsk" fashion.

Sasuke's fear quickly melted into rage. How dare this peasant, this THING, attempt to order around him? An Uchiha?! "Know your place!" Sasuke yelled as he flipped through his handsigns. "Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!" he bellowed as he sent a stream of fireballs at the wraith. The masked figure merely raised its gauntleted hand as its palm ignited in purple chakra. It waved its hand and formed a purple barrier in front of itself, blocking the fireballs. The fireballs hovered against the shield before being absorbed into the barrier. The wraith chuckled darkly as the barrier condensed into a small plate-sized circle. The barrier glowed and shot out the previously absorbed fireballs, the only difference being that they were larger and were now purple. Sasuke's Sharingan flared and he quickly rolled out of the way of the fireballs.

Meanwhile, the wraith placed a hand on its longsword and drew it from its sheath, holding the blade in front of its face with both hands. The creature began slowly walking forward, shifting its stance by holding the blade pointing forward from the right side while its left hand was held parallel to the ground as it pointed towards the Uchiha. **(A/N: Basically think the basic combat stance of the Ringwraiths from the Fellowship of the Ring.)** Sasuke smirked arrogantly and drew a kunai knife, intent to take down this thing.

The creature chuckled once again and blocked Sasuke's sloppy kunai stab with its sword before backhanding the Last Uchiha across the face, sending him flying straight into a tree. Sasuke groaned and sat up. The wraith snickered for a second. **"I always thought you were strong. I guess I was wrong… teme,"** the wraith hissed as it lunged towards Sasuke. Sasuke was stunned. Nobody called him that except- "Naruto?" he asked right as the wraith slammed the hilt of its sword into the Uchiha's forehead, and all Sasuke saw was blackness.

_Naruto POV_

Naruto sneered a bit as he knelt down by the unconcious teen. He rolled his eyes for a moment before flipping through his handsigns. _"Sorry Orochi-chan, but this bastard doesn't need any more power. The temptation factor of the seal is still there, so you won't have to worry. He'll come in time,"_ Naruto thought. **"****Evil-Sealing Technique: Fuin!** (Fuin= Seal)**"** he rasped as a small black ring with eight prongs formed around the seal. He nodded in approval. Sasuke could forcibly remove the blocking seal he had just placed, but it would take a lot of chakra… chakra which Sasuke didn't have.

Naruto stood and glanced over at his pink-haired teammate, only to find her not laying on the ground in shock like she had been a moment earlier. He turned to find her standing protectively over Sasuke. "I won't let you hurt Sasuke-kun!" she growled, attempting to sound menacing. That in itself is hard enough to pull off when you look about as threatening as a newborn kitten, and the fact that the kunai in her clasped hands was shaking did little to make her seem terrifying.

Naruto shook his head and pointed at the Uchiha. **"Do not come between a Nazgul and his prey. It is most… unwise."** Sakura tilted her head for a moment before Naruto looked her in the eyes. His eyes were now purple with two tomoe in each eye. **"Sleep,"** he ordered. Sakura passed out immediately. The Witch-King's successor shook his head in disgust.

Orochimaru slithered down from a tree and canceled her Slithering Snake Mode as she looked upon Naruto's form. Needless to say, she was impressed. Naruto took off his helmet and looked at the Sannin. "Sorry about sealing his Curse Mark, but I don't want the Leaf to freak out if he looses control of it." Orochimaru raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Why not?" Naruto sighed. "Then they lock him up to the point where he'll never escape to come and join you, or they'll kill him if the Hokage has any say. Either way, your plan fails and I don't get to leave this hellhole," Naruto elaborated.

Orochimaru nodded and proceeded to look the blonde up and down. His blond hair was a bit longer, more like Minato's hairstyle, and his whisker marks seemed darker and jagged. As it was, his hair also was a darker shade of blond, with streaks of black and purple going through his bangs, with the tips of the hair at the sides of his face blood red. His face held no trace of baby fat, looking rugged and rough, almost as if he was carved out of stone. Orochimaru subconsciously licked her lips. To her, Naruto was a prime specimen of a man, and needless to say she wanted that specimen, given her "experimenting" obsession.

Naruto groaned and hefted the two Genin over his shoulders. "I better go, don't want to keep the Exams waiting," he said. Orochimaru smirked and tossed him a Heaven Scroll. "You'll need that then in order to get in," she said teasingly. Naruto grunted as he stowed the scroll somewhere in his robes. "You'll need to get out of here before your old apprentice shows up. No doubt she sensed both your chakra and whatever that was that shot out when I transformed. And we both know that if you're captured, the Leaf won't hesitate to kill you. Besides…" Naruto flashed in front of the Sannin, causing her to jump in shock. "I still want that date you promised me," he said in an equally teasing manner. Orochimaru fought the blush that made its way onto her paled face. Naruto grinned and disappeared in a flash of purple. Orochimaru cursed. "Dammit!" She shook her head and smiled. "You always knew how to keep a girl wanting more, eh Naruto-kun?" she mused, licking her lips once again.

_End Chapter_

**Author's Note: Done! Finally, I managed to get this rewrite up and running! Okay, a few changes to the fic this time around. Obviously there will not be a harem, just Fem Orochimaru. Basically here's a list of powers Naruto will have.**

**Meiton (Dark Release)**

**Jiongu (Earth Grudge Fear)**

**Enton (Blaze Release)**

**Sharingan**

**Mangekyo Sharingan (will take some time to unlock)**

**Rinnegan (eventually)**

**Dark Sorcery and Magic of the Witch-King**

**Mokuton (Wood Release)? (Possibly, I'll need to think on that one.)**

**So that's the list so far. I'm cutting down the amount of elemental releases he can do, he'll be powerful but not really godlike as I originally planned. Don't worry, he won't lose fights that often, but he will have good fights I swear. So basically I'm offering three polls now.**

**1. Should I change the pairing to another girl instead of Fem Orochimaru? Comment with your opinion: yes or no… Just know that I will not write lemons, due to my beta readers at home and the fact that I suck at writing them.**

**2. What other powers do you want me to give Naruto? Comment with a suggestion. But know that I will not be making him outrageously overpowered to the point the Juubi is just an ant to him, he'll just be powerful. **

**3. I know it seemed like it had Sasuke Bashing, but that's just how I see it happening at the time. So for the final poll: Do you want Sasuke Bashing or not?**

**So that's pretty much it. Thanks for reading, leave a rate, comment, subscribe, whatever you want to do. Even if you want to criticize, I'm open to criticism. Sometimes it can tell me what you guys want and how I can improve my writing skills. Just try not to do it for no apparent reason. And for those of you who were reading "There and Back Again: Sauron's Tale" I might not be posting for a while on that one. Let's just say I'm going back over it and debating one of two options. So if you've read that one, please state which you would prefer to happen:**

**A) I revamp the story to keep in line with the ****_actual_**** personality behind Sauron (and minus the whole "Sauron being the Dragonborn" idea) and try to redo it.**

**B) I discontinue the story in favor of redoing it with a different character from Lord of the Rings in mind (I'm leaning toward Aragorn or Legolas)**

**C) I do both options A and B**

**Yeah, I'm confused. So help me out if you can! Alright, that's all I gotta say. See ya on the flip side!**


	2. Ch 2: Chunin Exam Preliminaries

Chapter 2: Chunin Exam Preliminaries

**Author's Notes: Well, apparently you guys like the rewrite of the story so I'm bringing in the next chapter! Surprisingly it got more reviews, favorites, and follows in one chapter than the first one did. Who knew? As well as you guys liking the Fem Orochimaru pairing. That definitely surprised me. So I'm keeping that as the pairing since it's not done that often. As for what Orochimaru looks like as a girl… not sure yet. Just go with what he looked like when he revealed his female host body in the anime if you like, except with those purple markings added to the edges of the eyes. I really haven't decided what she looks like yet. For the list of powers for Naruto/Witch-King I'm debating a bit on adding some things and removing others. I'm conflicted on the Jiongu and the Mokuton (either he doesn't have it or it's related to dead wood instead) and I'm removing the Rinnegan from the list cause I don't want him to be too overpowered. I'm also adding in some abilities from Shadow of Mordor as soon as I watch a few more videos on the gameplay for it. On the matter of Sasuke-bashing, I've come to a method to (hopefully) please everyone. He'll be bashed for a while, but he might slowly redeem himself. Somehow. Not sure yet. Whatever, let's get this story on the road already! You didn't come here to hear me rant, you came to read a story! Okay, I'll stop babbling and I'll see you at the ending Author's Notes. **

As he trudged through the forest with the two unconcious Genin slung across his back, the successor of the Witch-King comtemplated waking them up or not. Naruto finally decided against it and resolved to keep walking. This slowly began to become more difficult as he progressed, for while his strength and stamina were formidable they still had limits.

Naruto swore angrily under his breath as he kept walking, almost wanting to let Sasuke drag against the forest floor. _"Hey Kurama! Is there some way to carry them without actually having to, you know, carry them?!"_ he raged to the fox. **_"Dunno. You're the successor of a Ringwraith. You tell me!"_**

Cursing the Biju under his breath, Naruto kept on making his way in the direction of the tower. Idly extending his senses, he found Orochimaru "playing" with her old apprentice in a dance of death. Chuckling softly, Naruto pulled his helmet off of his belt and put it on. Pondering an option, he raised a hand and held it out in front of him.

Dropping Sasuke and Sakura, he held them in the air with dark magic, carefully levitating them so he didn't "accidentally" drop them while they floated. Wouldn't do for him to harm the precious Uchiha heir, now wouldn't it?

Walking along, he wondered to himself if he could summon a horse or something to use as a mount. But since he didn't know how to do that, he decided against experimenting until he found a decent place to practice his new abilities. Naruto eyed his gauntleted hand for a moment before shaking his head. This was rather baffling, and he needed to figure out just what about him had changed.

Arriving at the tower, Naruto dropped the his two "teammates" on the ground. Pulling the two scrolls out of the cavernous pockets of his robes, he examined them for a moment. Flipping them open he tossed them on the ground to form an X shape, revealing the summoning seal formed by the overlapping scrolls. A cloud of smoke exploded into existence before fading to reveal Iruka.

The scar-faced chunnin immediately pulled a double-take at the sight of his old student. "Naruto? What the hell happened to you?" he asked.

Naruto shrugged. "I grew up." Slinging Sasuke and Sakura over his shoulders, he walked past the chunnin and into the tower. Chucking the two at Kakashi once he saw him, Naruto continued on his way. He had a feeling that things were going to get much more interesting in the next few days.

Stepping into one of the free rooms, Naruto sat down on the bed and gazed at the helmet in his arms. _"So Kurama, what's next?" __**"You got me on that one Kit. You got me,"**_ the fox responded.

Naruto simply rolled his eyes at the fox's response before stretching his arms behind his head and lounging back. _"This is rather strange,"_ he mused to himself. _"Who'd have thought that the village pariah, the container of the Kyuubi, would become the sucessor to such a legendary figure of darkness? Things just might be looking up for me."_ Naruto rolled over onto his side and closed his eyes. It would be best to rest for now, and see just how things had changed come the 3rd exam.

_Couple of hours later…_

Our blond-haired hero was awakened rather rudely by a loud banging on his door. Glaring at the offending object, Naruto stood up and cracked his neck before walking to the door. "I'm telling you! You better have a good rea-"

His words were cut off at the sight of the man standign in his doorway. Standing there was a man who appeared to be old and frail, but radiated power. One arm was bandaged and slung into a black sling, while bandages wrapped around his right eye. Spiky black hair fell over the bandages, and his eye was squinted almost to the point of being shut. An X-shaped scar crossed his chin, and his face was covered in wrinkles. He held a cane in his hand, but Naruto knew he was by no means a feeble old man.

Naruto stiffened slightly before inclining his head. "Danzo-sensei," he remarked coolly. Danzo nodded at Naruto before shuffling into the room. Turning back to face the blonde, Danzo's squinted eye opened slightly to look at his apprentice. "Naruto," the old man replied. "I'm glad to see that you made it though the Forest of Death, despite your… _teammates_," Danzo said, almost snarling out the word "teammates" While he could tell the _necessity_ of the Uchiha, he cared little for his attitude or his pink-haired fangirl.

"Yeah, no thanks to them," Naruto growled. Danzo nodded before peering at the jinchuriki's hair. "What happened to you boy?" Naruto turned to Danzo and scratched the back of his head sheepishly. "Well, it's kind of a long story there old man."

Danzo raised an eyebrow before shaking his head. "If any of my ROOT agents talked to me that way, I'd have them executed. Luckily I'm fond of you for reasons I can't fathom," Danzo remarked. A vein bulged on Naruto's forehead. "Say what!? Who asked you ya old goat!?" he yelled. Danzo twitched.

He twitched again.

And again.

Then he exploded.

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME YOU INSUFFERABLE BRAT!?" Danzo bellowed, fire billowing out of his visible eye, the rage palpable. "WHILE HIRUZEN MIGHT TOLERATE YOUR ANTICS, I HAVE NO SUCH TOLERANCE AND YOU KNOW THIS!" And with that, Danzo raised his cane and slammed it down onto the blonde Uzumaki's head.

"OW! Why'd you hit me eh old man!?" Naruto yelled, his icy blue eyes bleeding over into red. The cane slammed down on his temple again. "OW! God! Why do you keep doing that!?" "I'll do it until you learn some respect for your elders you hooligan!"

Naruto froze. "You realize you just called yourself old, right Sensei?" Danzo froze, cane stopping mid-swing. He took a moment to contemplate. Danzo lowered the cane and his head sunk. "Goddammit," he growled under his breath. The blonde smirked and chuckled lightly. Danzo glared at Naruto, a vein still twitching on his temple. "You may have won this round brat," he snarled. "But you have not won the war!"

Naruto waved a hand dismissively at his fuming sensei. Danzo groaned and sat down, rubbing a hand over his wrinkled face. Naruto reached into his black robes and pulled out a small metal flask. After unscrewing the cap off of the flask, he then handed it to his sensei. Danzo looked at it for a moment before taking a swig of the sake inside. "Still don't understand how they let you buy this stuff brat," Danzo muttered. "Old enough to kill, old enough to drink and get laid," Naruto retorted. Danzo rolled his visible eye. "With a certain snake summoner, eh?"

Naruto turned a bit pink. "That's none of your concern ya old goat!" he bellowed as his blush intensified at the thought of his other, far better-looking sensei, and him in one of _those_ situations.

Danzo chuckled. "Still got it!" he murmured to himself. Composing himself, Danzo looked at the side of Naruto's neck. "How's the mark?" he asked.

Naruto perked up and strained to look at the Curse Mark on his skin. "It doesn't twinge or anything, but I haven't used it yet. After discovering this new form of power, I just didn't need it at the time," he admitted. Danzo nodded. "I recommend you keep this new 'power' of yours in the dark for a little bit longer. We wouldn't want them to get too suspicious of you and call for the 'demon's' execution, now would we?"

Naruto nodded and closed his eyes. The robes turned slightly translucent before melting into Naruto's skin, the armor turning black as night with purple energy glowing at the edges before dissapating into nothingness, revealing Naruto's old orange jacket and pants below it. The helmet sitting beside him quickly followed suit, dissapating in a flash of black and purple-edged energy.

Danzo nodded in approval. "Good. Now they'll underestimate you like they have before. But one last note…" With that he stood and got right in Naruto's face. "Lose. The damned. Orange," he growled, an aura in the shape of the Shinigami's mask appearing behind his head.

Naruto gulped subtly, nodding furiously. The aura vanished, and a small smile graced Danzo's face. "Good. I'll send Foo or Torune to bring you a set of ROOT approved clothing to wear in place of that… thing," Danzo replied, his face scowling at the thought of the orange clothing. And with that note, the old man turned and walked out of the room and into the hallway, the clicking of his cane on the stone floor echoing throughout the tower.

Naruto shook his head in amazement. While never showing that much emotion in public, he still was amazed at how much emotion Danzo expressed in his presence. He never even knew the old goat still had that much emotion in him.

Naruto simply laid back on his bed and closed his eyes, a small smile gracing his features. While he still saw Danzo as a grandfather-figure like the Hokage and a good teacher, he still prefered Orochimaru. She was a bit easier on the eyes.

_Later… At the Arena for the 3__rd__ Stage of the Chunin Exams…_

Most of the Genin participating in the Exams were a little bit baffled with the change that had come over the village "dobe" sometime during the exams.

He wasn't loudly screaming about becoming Hokage, he wasn't pestering his pink-haired "teammate" for a date, and he wasn't wearing any orange. Instead, his whisker-marked face was set into an expression of cool indifference, not even reacting to the whispers around him.

The clothing Naruto was wearing was also a bit of a shock. Gone was the orange and blue track suit, but was replaced with something that actually made him look like a shinobi for once. He was wearing what appeared to be black ANBU grade pants and sandals with bandages wrapped around his ankles, a shirt of deep purple with a strange spiral symbol on the chest, as well as a hooded cloak similar to that of the Fourth Hokage. The differences ended there, for the cloak had a hood instead of a high collar, and was black with purple flames instead of white with red flames. Instead of kanji reading "Fourth Hokage" Naruto instead had a large number "9" printed on the back in red ink. The blue fabric of his forehead protector was exchanged for a black one with longer straps hanging off of the back of his head. The Genin weren't exactly sure, but to them it seemed as if his hair was styled like Minato Namikaze, excepting the black and purple streaks in his bangs and the red tips of the hair framing his face.

Most of them had differing reactions to Naruto's new look, some being surprise while some chalked it up to him "trying to look good to impress them and failing miserably" (cough! Cough! Sakura! Cough! Cough!) Naruto simply ignored them and their whisperings, preferring instead to glance over to the balcony on the opposite side.

Naruto couldn't help but smirk at the sight of the female Jonin sensei of the Sound team. Her yellow eyes glinted at the sight of the blonde, her pupils turning to snake-like slits for a moment. She simply raised a finger to her lips, a coy smirk aimed at Naruto.

Inwardly, Naruto couldn't help but shake his head at the security of the Leaf. They knew what their greatest traitor other than Itachi looked like exactly, yet she simply stood in the room mere feet away from the Hokage himself with the only thing about different about her was her Sound Jonin uniform and nobody noticed her at all. Talk about slacking off.

**_"_****_You said it kit. You said it,"_** Kurama rumbled in the back of Naruto's mind. Naruto chuckled softly. Looking back at the Hokage, he noticed that the old man had finished his speech and the new proctor had shown up, a sickly looking Jonin called Hayate.

After a brief explanation of how the preliminaries would work, the electronic board cycled through the names until it came up against two names.

**_Sasuke Uchiha vs Akadou Yoroi_**

Naruto scoffed under his breath. _"Of course they'd show the emo first. Not surprising at all!"__** "They really think he's the best they have?"**_ Kurama growled. **_"Why can't they just focus on some of the ACTUAL geniuses and not the arrogant clan heirs? Bastards are far too stuck on the Uchiha's these days."_**

Naruto couldn't help but shake his head while leaping up to the balcony. He glanced down to see his duck-haired teammate preparing to face off against Kabuto's teammate. He chuckled under his breath. Despite Yoroi's "enhancement" Sasuke would probably still defeat him. Yoroi just didn't stand a chance.

Subtly casting a genjutsu over his eyes, Naruto activated his purple Sharingan to observe the fight. Sure enough, Sasuke's chakra network was currently straining against the dark chakra of Orochimaru's Curse Mark. Naruto narrowed his eyes slightly when he noticed that his suppression seal was missing.

_"__What the hell? How'd the suppression seal get removed?"_ he thought to himself. Glancing over at Orochimaru, he drew a circular motion around the side of his neck, almost in a pattern over his own seal. She simply shrugged. Naruto scowled. Either some outside force had removed the seal he placed over the Curse Mark, the Mark itself forced the seal off, or Naruto's Fuinjutsu (Sealing Techniques) skills weren't quite up to par yet. Knowing it was most likely the last of the theories, Naruto simply sighed and made a mental note to practice his seals whenever he got the chance.

Shaking himself out of his thoughts, he saw Sasuke kick his opponent into the air using a taijutsu move that he (most likely) copied from the spandex-wearing Genin of Team 9. After kicking the hapless Yoroi into the air, Sasuke prepared for another strike.

Glancing back over to Orochimaru, Naruto noticed her sudden predatory grin as she raised her fingers into a half of a handseal. Turning his gaze back to Sasuke, Naruto immediately noticed the sudden influx of dark chakra spreading from the Curse Mark. Black flame-shaped marks began spreading from Sasuke's neck onto his face and the rest of his body, causing him to flinch in mid-air. A grimace found it's way onto his face before he steeled himself and forced the Mark back into submission, then slamming Yoroi to the ground with a devastating kick while yelling "Shishi Rendan!" (Lion's Barrage)

Sasuke was then pronounced the winner, and quickly escorted off by Kakashi to "get that Mark sealed up" while the board began to spin once more to choose the next fighters.

His gaze following Kakashi and Sasuke's retreating forms, Naruto quickly held his hands into the familiar cross seal and substituted himself with a Kage Bunshin. He then held a hand out in front of him and began channeling that dark energy from before when he used his new powers. After coating himself in a layer of shadows to camouflage himself, Naruto stuck to the ceiling with chakra and followed after the two.

_Sealing Room… Minutes later…_

Clinging to a pillar, Naruto carefully observed as Kakashi removed Sasuke's shirt and began tracing seals all over the Uchiha's torso with his own blood. After finishing the arduous task, Kakashi began channeling chakra to the Curse Mark in the center of the seals and began the same sealing process Naruto himself had used barely a day ago. (Although Naruto grudgingly admitted that Kakashi's method was slightly better than his own, given he actually took time to make the seals instead of half-assing it.)

After the seal was applied (and the Uchiha passed out) Naruto was set to leave when he heard the familiar chuckling he had come to know and love, while most of Konoha only associated it with fear.

"Kukuku," Orochimaru chuckled as she leaned against the doorway of the room. "Seems you've gotten better at sealing, haven't you Copycat Kakashi?" she replied in a teasing manner. Kakashi quickly spun on his heels, kunai in hand while his other hand was instantly on his forehead protector. "You!" he growled. A smirk found it's way onto Orochimaru's face. "Me," she replied, fanged smirk never leaving her expression.

"So, the Curse Mark was your doing after all. You do realize I'm not letting you take Sasuke, don't you?" Kakashi snarled. Orochimaru lowered her eyes, a small frown on her face, her lower lip trembling slightly. The look vanished when she looked back up and let a maniacal smile form as her golden eyes gleamed. "Take Sasuke? Why Hatake, I thought you knew me better. Why would I want him?" she said. "I may be one for going for younger men, but I don't think that a revenge-driven emo isn't really my type. I tend to go for the ones with the REAL strength if you ask me. Sasuke's good only for a pawn maybe, but that's all."

Kakashi's eye widened before narrowing. "Then why mark him? Why the obsession over the Sharingan if you're not going to use him like that?" he remarked. Orochimaru laughed heartily for a good minute or two before letting her amusement die off. "Who says I still don't want the Sharingan?" she said with a smirk. "Of course, I'd only get them after Sasuke's use for me ran out, but I've waited long enough. Besides, I don't need to take him. He'll come to me for power."

"What!?" Kakashi yelled, his headband now lifted up to reveal his own Sharingan eye. "You heard me. He'll come willingly to me for power. They always do," Orochimaru replied. "After all, he's already had a taste of power from my Curse Mark. He'll come to me for more. That's how it always goes."

Naruto fought the urge to chuckle as his sensei from the fairer end of the spectrum simply talked Kakashi Hatake down like scolding a child. Sensing something from his clone, Naruto slipped out of the room and used a Kawamari (Substitution) with his clone and processed the memories from when it dispelled.

Filing away the information as needed, Naruto then turned his gaze back to the board as the two names appeared.

**Ino Yamanaka vs Sakura Haruno**

_About a half-hour later…_

Naruto couldn't help but let some of his disgust show through his emotionless mask, a vein pulsing noticeably on his temple. The fight had basically been a so-called "cat-fight" between two mediocre kunoichi. While Ino had some advantage due to her clan upbringing and therefore could have become an excellent ninja, she basically crippled herself due to dieting to "help her figure" when it came to "attracting Sasuke-kun's attention" Sakura was no better, in fact she was a lot worse. She didn't even train at all!

Not to mention even Sasuke (who had returned to watch the matches shortly after the two girls got into the arena) was a bit disgusted. The raven-haired Uchiha couldn't help but shake his head in shame at his teammate's proclamations that she "would win Sasuke-kun's love with this match!" and Ino's hot-headed remarks. Add in the fact that the two "kunoichi" only used the Academy Three in terms of Jutsu (Minus Ino's single Yamanaka mind jutsu) and that they both knocked each other out at the same time, and the fight was all in all rather pathetic.

Naruto glanced over to where Orochimaru (once again in her "disguise") and he couldn't help but smirk at her reaction. Her beautiful features were twisted into a scowl of horror and disgust with a hint of outrage thrown in, her golden eyes narrowed in fury, and Naruto could probably guess why. Female ninja were often seen as weaker than male ninja, and fangirls like the blond Yamanaka and the banshee pinkette just added to that stereotype. This was often the reason that some enemy shinobi tended to underestimate kunoichi. Of course, this stereotype of the "weak woman" was broken in some cases like Tsunade Senju (or Orochimaru herself) of the Sannin and others such as Anko Mitarashi or Kurenai Yuhi. Still, fangirls were often considered a disgrace to the shinobi ranks.

Chuckling inwardly at Orochimaru's expression, Naruto turned back to the electronic board as the names stopped once more.

**Naruto Uzumaki vs Kiba Inuzuka**

"Sweet! We got this one in the bag Akamaru!" the boisterous dog user bellowed, his white puppy giving a half-hearted bark in reply. Naruto let a small smirk form on his face.

Seconds after the Inuzuka leapt down to the arena, Naruto simply stuck his hands in his pockets and disappeared in a swirl of shadow. The shadowy Shunshin (Body-Flicker) reappeared a few feet across from Kiba, fading to reveal Naruto standing there in its place.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at the display. _"Since when did Naruto know the __Shunshin__? I never taught him that!"_ Sasuke seethed for a moment but forced himself to calm down. It wouldn't do to get angry at a loser for knowing a new trick, now would it?

The proctor raised a hand, then lowered it to signal the beginning of the match. Kiba leapt forward, his hand formed into a clawing motion as he tried to use his family Taijutsu on Naruto. He was a little annoyed when Naruto simply leaned backwards, effortlessly dodging the feral style.

Kiba was shaken out of his thoughts when Naruto (still not taking his hands out of his pockets) dropped down and swept his feet out from under him with a swift kick, before spinning and slamming his own foot into Kiba's stomach. The force of the blow knocked the wind out of the Inuzuka, and sent him flying across the room.

Naruto eyed Kiba as the boy pulled himself from the wall he was imbedded in. "Well, guess that's about all you can do then."

Kiba growled angrily before dropping down on his hands and knees. "Shikyaku no Jutsu!" (Four Legs Technique) he bellowed. Chakra enveloped him as his canines extended into fangs and his nails elongated into claws. Naruto raised an eyebrow at the display before smirking. "So, you want to go wild then?" he asked. Immediately a spike of yokai emitted from him as his slightly thicker-than-usual whisker marks thickened even more, his own canines turned to fangs and his nails to claws. Naruto's icy blue eyes bled over into red with a cat-like slit for a pupil. Seconds later, almost subconciously, the chakra turned slightly darker as the Curse Mark hidden under his collar activated.

_Deep in Naruto's Subconcious… Kurama's Cage…_

Kurama's eyes snapped open as he felt the mark activate. **"Aw hell,"** he growled, as black markings began to slowly overtake the sewer-like area of Naruto's mindscape.

_Real World…_

Much to the surprise of the Jonin's watching, the right side of Naruto's face was slowly covered with black markings similar in shape to spiked chains with spear-like attachments at the tips. **(A/N: Basically think of the shape of Kushina's chakra chains, then make them black. That's basically what Naruto's Stage 1 Curse Mark looks like)** Naruto's mouth split into a wide, bloodthirsty grin.

**"****Let's go WILD THEN!"** the jinchuriki roared in a demonic tone as he lunged on all fours towards the Inuzuka and his partner.

**End Chapter…**

**Naw! Just kidding! I had to do this with at least one of my stories. Okay, let's just get back to business then. I'll finish the match in the very least with this chapter. **

Kiba lunged to the side to avoid the demonically-enhanced Naruto as he swung a clawed hand at the Inuzuka's mostly unprotected neck. He then trusted his instincts enough to duck and avoid another barrage of kicks and slashes. Inwardly, Kiba was on the verge of panic. Naruto was moving faster than most of his clan members after using the Shikyaku no Jutsu and was even more feral than just about all of them.

Letting out a whistle to Akamaru, Kiba quickly tossed a soldier pill to the puppy. Akamaru swallowed the pill and quickly turned a shade of burgundy. "Let's go Akamaru!" Kiba yelled as the dog jumped onto his back.

"Jujin Bunshin!" (Beast Human Clone) With an explosion of smoke, Akamaru transformed into a perfect double of Kiba. The two Kibas darted to the side and began to spin as they charged. "Gatsuga!" (Fang over Fang) Immediately the two began rotating into a spinning drill of wind and claws.

Naruto simply cackled maniacally as he stood his ground. **"Bring it on ya mangy mutts!"**

_Up in the Stands…_

Most of the genin were in complete shock over Naruto's transformation. Neji's eyes were bulging, Hinata had a horrified expression on her face, Choji had dropped his chips, Shikamaru was paying attention for once, and Shino was… well, Shino.

Sasuke was a bit taken aback when he noticed the same black markings forming on Naruto's skin. _"The dobe has one of these marks too? When did that woman give him one?"_ he wondered to himself. What also startled him slightly was the fact that Naruto was going even more berserk than he did in his first usage of the mark.

The other Jonin were a little worried, given Naruto was using the Kyuubi's chakra, and most of them were praying for Kiba and Akamaru's sakes. Kakashi on the other hand had lifted his headband to reveal his Sharingan and was gazing at Naruto's chakra with a concerned look in his eyes. _"Bad enough he's using the fox's chakra, but he got a Curse Mark too?! Did Orochimaru mark him as well?"_

Kakashi glanced over to where he knew Orochimaru was standing with her remaining "student" and he was a bit shocked at the look on her face. She wasn't using a handseal to activate the mark, and her face showed surprise and oddly enough, concern.

_"__This makes little sense. Not only does Naruto have a Curse Mark, but Orochimaru's actually looking CONCERNED for him?! What does this mean?"_ he thought to himself.

_Back in the Arena…_

Naruto simply leapt into the air as the two drill-like objects rocketed towards him, before landing on the floor with a crater forming under his feet. He cackled again, this time ready to catch the Inuzuka and his puppy as they shot towards him again.

**_"_****_Alright, that's enough!"_**

Immediately the foul yokai of the Kyuubi receeded back into the seal, leaving Naruto with only the Curse Mark active. Naruto's maniacal expression slowly morphed into one of confusion as he raised a hand to the mark on his neck.

**_"_****_You freaking idiot! Not only have you revealed the Curse Mark, but you almost lost control of my chakra! Sorry Kit, but I'm putting you on cold turkey here! No more yokai until you get that Mark sorted out and under control!"_** Kurama yelled from the mindscape.

Naruto shook the cobwebs out of his mind just in time to dodge Kiba and Akamaru's technique once more. Glaring at the two drills that swerved and shot back at him again, his red eyes bled back into icy blue.

"Alright you two," he said in an emotionless tone. "Let's finish this." With that, Naruto flipped through his handsigns and turned to the drill on the right. "Futon: Shinkuha!" (Wind Style: Vacuum Wave) Naruto bellowed as he spun on his heels and fired off a blade of wind from his mouth.

The wind blade immediately struck the spinning object head on and coupled with the spinning destructive power of Gatsuga it squickly decimated the person in question. This was revealed to be the real Kiba, now covered with small slash wounds all over his body from the wind rotating around his technique. Akamaru released his transformation and ran over to Kiba, barking frantically.

The proctor, seeing Kiba on the ground, shakily raised a hand. "Winner by knockout: Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto sighed in relief as the chain-shaped marks on his face receded into the mark on his neck. Glancing up for a moment at Orochimaru, he was happy to see her smiling at him. He fought down the blush that almost appeared when she subtly winked at him. He turned back to see the medics taking Kiba away on a stretcher. His joints groaning in protest, Naruto quickly made his way over to the Inuzuka.

"Hey, Kiba." Kiba raised a head with a groan to see Naruto extending a hand. "Sorry about losing it for a bit there. You put up a good fight though. Good match?" Naruto asked. Kiba forced a smile onto his face with a wince. "Yeah. Good match… dobe," he groaned as he passed out.

Naruto gave a small smile before Kakashi put a hand on his shoulder. He groaned inwardly. This could take a while.

**End Chapter**

**Author's Notes: FINALLY! God, it's taken me a few months, but I finally got chapter 2 done! (Stupid Devil May Cry HD Collection and Devil May Cry 4 taking up all of my free time. Curse you awesome game series!) So yeah, the Chunin exams preliminaries! I'm sorry for being cliché and skipping most of the fights, but to be honest I haven't seen that arc in so long and I've read too many fanfictions where things get changed to the point of me not knowing what's canon or not. So, about my other story at the moment. I'm stuck with writer's block on ****_There and Back Again_**** so it may be a while before I can get to finishing chapter 3. Like I mentioned earlier, Devil May Cry has been taking up a lot of free time. That and my random need to write down every little plot idea that comes to mind (which is far to frequently)**

**So that story's not going to be updated for a while until I crack open my Skyrim case again and start playing through the game again (hopefully without all the random glitches for doors in Whiterun! I swear every time I try to leave a building in Whiterun my game crashes and I have to restart my system! What's up with that?!) and then figure out some plot ideas or something. **

**Hopefully you guys liked the scene with Danzo! Usually he's always the villain in fanfiction, so I figured let's make the guy a protagonist for once! Albiet I did add more emotion than he would be showing, but hopefully it works. I know we didn't see much of the Witch-King's abilities yet, but I'm working on it. Things will get much more awesome in the future! I've also watched some gameplay for ****_Shadow of Mordor_**** and honestly I can say it looks awesome. I'm not sure if any of the powers from that game will be used yet, but if I use any I'm probably going to use these:**

**The whole mind reading/interrogation thing Talion uses to find information and kill orcs**

**Wraith form**

**And that's all I can think of right now. Maybe I'll come up with more stuff in the future. **

**I will admit that my update times will be staggered anywhere from days to months in between. And I apologize for this. So I'll try to be more scheduled with my updates. So leave a rate, comment, favorite, whatever you feel like! I'll see you guys in the next chapter! **

**See ya on the flip side!**

**-Phantom of Skyrim**


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